Shape enhancing and bulge reducing compression shapewear garment

ABSTRACT

A figure enhancing and bulge reducing shapewear garment, comprising: a one piece contour layer comprising a) sleeve portions selected from the group consisting of short sleeve, ¾ inch sleeve, cap sleeve and wide shoulder strap; b) thigh portions; c) armpit portions; d) bra cup portions; e) waist portion; f) neck portion; g) crotch opening and crotch flap; h) buttocks portion; and i) back portion, wherein the contour layer is stretchable to apply compression to enhance the figure and sized to reduce bulging of excess skin of a body of a wearer beyond the edges of the contour layer.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The presently disclosed women's garment relates to a figure enhancing and bulge reducing garment comprising a one piece contour layer, which provides compression to enhance the figure and is sized to reduce the bulging of skin of a wearer beyond the edges of the garment and constructed to facilitate urination and bowel movements without removal thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

In today's market, there are a number of commercially available garments that apply compression and figure enhancement to certain body portions of the wearer to improve appearance. For example, the applied compression aids in shaping the body to appear thinner or to improve the overall figure of the wearer. However, compression garments on the market today are engineered for the tighter skin of younger women, which are cut in areas of the body in a way that allow for skin to protrude past and over the edge of the compression garment. Furthermore, the looser skin of older women tends exacerbate bulging of skin out and over the edges of these garments at the armpit, upper back and other areas of the body of the wearer.

Many women's figure enhancing undergarments typically require at least the upper portion to be removed from the wearer before being seated on a toilet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,984, teaches and discloses an outer garment with a closable opening for facilitating urination by the wearer. However, the closable opening at the crotch is zippered, which can be inconvenient. With other brands, the opening is a short slit in the crotch that does not allow for bowel movements and cannot accommodate a sanitary pad or liner.

Therefore, there is a need for a women's contouring type garment which covers the upper and lower torso of the wearer with and without sleeves to be worn without underwear or undergarments include a closeable trap door opening extending through the crotch area to facilitate urination and bowel movements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herein is a figure enhancing and bulge reducing shapewear garment, comprising: a one piece contour layer comprising a) sleeve portions selected from the group consisting of short sleeve, ¾ inch sleeve, cap sleeve and wide shoulder strap; b) thigh portions; c) armpit portions; d) bra cup portions; e) waist portion; f) neck portion; g) crotch opening and crotch flap; h) buttocks portion; and i) back portion, wherein the contour layer is stretchable to apply compression to enhance the figure and sized to reduce bulging of excess skin of a body of a wearer beyond the edges of the contour layer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a front view of one embodiment of a contour enhancing compression under garment of the disclosure with the crotch flap secured.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a back view of one embodiment of a contour enhancing compression under garment of the disclosure with the crotch flap attached to the back of the contour layer.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a front view of one embodiment of a contour enhancing compression under garment of the disclosure with sleeves.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a front view of one embodiment of a contour enhancing compression under garment of the disclosure with the crotch flap detached from the front and being secured to the hip attachment through the back.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following is a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the garments disclosed herein. In this description reference is made to the drawings.

DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of this specification and appended claims, unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities, percentages or proportions, and other numerical values used in the specification and claims, are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the following specification and attached claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained. It is noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the,” include plural references unless expressly and unequivocally limited to one referent. As used herein, the term “include” and its grammatical variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that can be substituted or added to the listed items. As used herein, the term “comprising” means including elements or steps that are identified following that term, but any such elements or steps are not exhaustive, and an embodiment can include other elements or steps.

INTRODUCTION

In one aspect, disclosed herein are figure enhancing and bulge reducing garments, comprising: a one piece contour layer comprising a) sleeve portions selected from the group consisting of short sleeve, ¾ inch sleeve, cap sleeve and wide shoulder strap; b) thigh portions; c) armpit portions; d) bra cup portions; e) waist portion; f) neck portion; g) crotch opening and crotch flap; h) buttocks portion; and i) back portion, wherein the contour layer is stretchable to apply compression to enhance the figure and sized to reduce bulging of excess skin of a body of a wearer beyond the edges of the contour layer.

The figure enhancing and bulge reducing garment slims, smoothes, and supports the wearer's front, upper armpit, upper back, upper arms, side, back torso, hip, upper thigh, buttocks and bust areas by providing compression 11. This slimming and smoothing compression technology is different from other shaping garments because it is engineered for the mature woman (>40 years old) that finds the typical compression garment geared for the younger woman (<40 years old) with tighter skin that are cut in a way that exposes skin at undesirable areas of the body for the mature woman. The typical compression garment for younger women is cut lower under the armpit and upper back, and often has minimal coverage of thigh, arms, etc. In the case of a mature woman with skin that is looser due to age, the compression garment for younger women results in bulging of skin and fat over the edges of the garment. Therefore, the disclosed garment is sized to cut higher under the armpit portions 17 and upper back portion 16 to reduce bulging out over the edge of the garment as observed with compression garments for younger women. Moreover, in contrast to compression garments for younger women the disclosed garment is not cut high around the hip and thigh areas. The disclosed garment is designed to completely cover the thigh portions 24 and hip area, which eliminates bulging at the thigh and hip areas as compared to compression garments for younger women which are cut high around the hip and thigh areas.

For the contour layer of FIGS. 1-4 the neck portion may be round 20 or a V-neck 19 and the armholes are cut high and adjacent to the armpit portion 17. This higher cut at the armpit is needed to reduce or eliminate loose skin from bulging out over the edge of the garment under the armpit. The bulging of loose skin is a disadvantage of compression undergarments on the market today for women, which are typically cut lower for a younger age group of women with tighter skin. In some embodiments, the armpit portions 17 are cut high and directly adjacent to the armpit areas of the wearer to reduce bulging of skin out over the edge of the garment adjacent to the armpit areas. In some embodiments, the back portion of the contour layer further comprises an upper back portion 16, wherein the contour layer is cut high along the upper back adjacent to the neckline to reduce bulging of skin out over the edge of the garment along the upper back. In some embodiments, the contour layer provides compression 11 and is sized at the sleeve portions 42 and 15, thigh portions 24; armpit portions 17, neck portion 20 and upper back portion 16 to reduce bulging of skin over the edges of the contour layer. In some embodiments, the contour layer provides compression 11 at the sleeve portions 42 and 15, thigh portions 24, armpit portions 17, bra cup portions 18, waist portion, neck portion 20, buttocks portion and back portion to provide enhancement the figure of the wearer.

The disclosed garment also has a built in crotch flap 13 for urination and bowel movements via the closed crotch opening 12. Further convenience may be found with the hip attachment 14 for securing the crotch flap 13 from the backside during urination and bowel movements. Moreover, the crotch flap attachment 21 is accomplished via snaps, hooks, buttons, Velcro™ or similar means of attachment. The crotch flap attachments 21 are positioned to allow for the application of a sanitary napkin or other absorption means in the center of the inside portion 51 as depicted in FIG. 4. In some embodiments, the crotch flap 13 further comprises an area sized for a disposable sanitary napkin 51 applied to an inside central portion of the crotch flap. Therefore, the disclosed contour layer eliminates the need for undergarments with the built in bra 18, crotch flap 13 and closed crotch opening 12 as disclosed herein. The contour layer of the disclosed garment eliminates the need to wear other layers (i.e., underwear, bra, etc.), which increases comfort and reduces bulging out beyond the edges of the garment and eliminates panty lines, bra lines, etc., showing from under the garment.

In some embodiments, the closed crotch opening 12 and crotch flap 13 comprise a) an opening, which extends along only a portion of the inseam 23 substantially centrally on either side of the crotch area, the opening thereby having a maximum length sufficient to permit the wearer to urinate and have bowel movements through the crotch opening; and b) a flap, which extends and is attached at a top portion to the buttocks and secured across the front of the wearer to the contour layer with at least one fastener across the lower abdomen of the wearer. The crotch flap backside 32 is secured to the back of the contour layer with a crotch flap seam 31 or similar means as depicted with FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the contour layer eliminates the need for the wearer to wear undergarments. In some embodiments, the contour layer further comprises at least one hip attachment 14, which is used to attach to a crotch flap attachment 21 after detachment of the crotch flap to prevent the crotch flap 13 from falling into a toilet.

In some embodiments, the contour layer 10 is composed of 100% spandex. In some embodiments, the contour layer comprises 5-50% spandex and 50-95% polyester or cotton, which stretches 20-100%. In some embodiments, the contour layer comprises 5-50% spandex and 50-95% nylon, which stretches 30-100%. In some embodiments, the contour layer is made from a uniform fabric. In some embodiments, the contour layer is spandex, which stretches 30-100%, spandex and polyester or cotton knit, which stretches 40-100%, or spandex and nylon or cotton knit, which stretches 50-100%. In some embodiments, the contour layer is made from a uniform fabric. The fabric has a slick finish that won't cling to other fabrics and is soft against the wearer's skin. In some embodiments, the contour layer is further removed and worn by the wearer with an optional side zipper 22 of the garment as depicted in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

The figure enhancing and bulge reducing garment as disclosed herein can be used with a variety of women's fashion, including different types of tops. In some embodiments, the sleeve portions are selected from the group consisting of a ¾ inch sleeve 42 or a short sleeve 42 (short sleeve illustrated as a dotted line of FIG. 3), cap sleeve 15 or wide shoulder strap 15 (wide shoulder strap illustrated as a dotted line of FIG. 1). In some embodiments, as the shoulder portion 41 of FIG. 3 provides compression 11 to provide figure enhancement and bulge reduction at the shoulder and extending to sleeve and neck portions. In some embodiments, the contour layer provides figure enhancement, which can be used in camisoles, tank-tops (tanks), tee-shirts (tees), blouses, shirts, or other tops; dresses; skirts; or pants; support, which can be used in shelf bra camisoles, shelf bra tanks, shelf bra tees, or other shelf bra tops, shelf bra dresses, shelf bra jumpsuits and rompers, open bust camisoles, open bust tanks, open bust tees or other open bust tops, open bust dresses, open bust jumpsuits and rompers; bulge reduction of loose skin over the edges of the contour layer, which can be used in camisoles, tanks, or other tops, dresses, skirts, or pants. In some embodiments, the thigh portions are shorts or a slip. In some embodiments, the thigh portions are adapted to completely cover the upper thighs of the wearer to a point between about 3 to 10 inches below the wearer's crotch.

The figure enhancing and bulge reducing garment includes a built in bra 18, which is a bra cup provided with wires, seams, glued elastic, or otherwise permanently affixed to the contour layer providing bust support with A-FFF cups at least, and can comfortably wear this garment without a bra. In some embodiments, the bra cup portions further include a shelf bra comprising wires, bra cup or seams to provide bust support.

Turning to the construction and stitching, in both FIGS. 1-4 the contour layer comprises seams 23 of the garment are shown by the stitch lines throughout the figures. This allows maximum stretch to accommodate flexibility of fit, while reducing or eliminating any loose skin from protruding out of the contour layer. Furthermore, the crotch flap seam 31 is positioned above the buttocks. The contour layer's pattern pieces at the torso, hips, and thighs are cut parallel to the line running from the armpit to the side of the thigh. In the case of the figure enhancing and bulge reducing garment 40 as depicted in FIG. 3, the seam 23 extends from the armpit to under the arm to the terminal end of the sleeve. This limits the stretch of the liner's circumference for maximum shaping control, while the vertical stretch allows for flexibility of fit and is easy to put on and take off the wearer's body. The contour layer's side seams are joined with an overlocking stitch for chafe resistant flat seams or similar seam. Moreover, the edges of the contour garment, including the closed crotch opening 12 and open crotch opening 53, crotch flap 13 and 52, thigh portions 24, sleeve portions 42 and 15, thigh portions 24, armpit portions 17, neck portion 20, round neck portion 20 or V-neck neck portion 19 and upper back portion 16, etc, are all finished edges 25 or elasticized seams 25.

Turning to the seams 23, as illustrated with FIGS. 1-2 and 4 the contour layer comprises seams 23 from below the armpit to the terminal end of the thigh portion 18 on each side of the contour layer and seams 23 running from the crotch opening 53 on the inside of the thigh portions 24. Alternatively, as illustrated with FIG. 3 the seams 23 along the torso run from the underside of the terminal end of each sleeve 42 to the armpit and then down the side of the torso to the terminal end of the thigh portions 24 and seams 23 running from the open crotch opening 53 on the inside of the thigh portion 18. This seam construction stabilizes both the built in bra 18 and areas of the wearer that tend to bulge loose skin over compression garments not cut high in the upper back and armpit area, etc. as disclosed herein.

The contour layer of FIGS. 1-4, provides figure enhancement and bulge reduction with a mature woman without limiting a natural range of motion and allowing for an outer garment (i.e., blouses, shirts, or other tops; dresses; skirts; or pants) and that the two garments will not fight, twist, or torque. The contour layer is designed to provide bust support plus maximum figure enhancement and bulge reduction, shaping, and modesty protection under outer garments without the need for underwear, while remaining stabilized and completely concealed from the outside view.

The presently disclosed garments are not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein, which are intended as single illustrations of individual aspects of the presently disclosed methods, and functionally equivalent methods and components are within the scope of the presently disclosed garments. Indeed, various modifications of the presently disclosed garments, in addition to those shown and described herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. 

what is claimed is:
 1. A figure enhancing and bulge reducing shapewear garment, comprising: a one piece contour layer comprising a) sleeve portions selected from the group consisting of short sleeve, ¾ inch sleeve, cap sleeve and wide shoulder strap; b) thigh portions; c) armpit portions; d) bra cup portions; e) waist portion; f) neck portion; g) crotch opening and crotch flap; h) buttocks portion; and i) back portion, wherein the contour layer is stretchable to apply compression to enhance the figure and sized to reduce bulging of excess skin of a body of a wearer beyond the edges of the contour layer.
 2. The garment of claim 1, wherein the crotch opening comprises an opening, which extends along only a portion of the inseam substantially centrally on either side of the crotch area, the opening thereby having a maximum length sufficient to permit the wearer to urinate and have bowel movements through the crotch opening.
 3. The garment of claim 1, wherein the crotch flap comprises a flap, which extends and is attached at a top portion to the buttocks and secured across the front of the wearer to the contour layer with at least one fastener across the lower abdomen of the wearer.
 4. The garment of claim 1, wherein the contour layer is comprised of spandex and polyester knit, spandex and cotton knit or spandex and nylon knit.
 5. The garment of claim 1, wherein the thigh portions are shorts or a slip.
 6. The garment of claim 1, wherein the crotch flap further comprises an area for a disposable sanitary napkin applied to an inside central portion of the crotch flap.
 7. The garment of claim 1, wherein the armpit portions are cut high and directly adjacent to the armpit areas of the wearer to reduce bulging of skin out over the edge of the garment adjacent to the armpit areas.
 8. The garment of claim 1, wherein the thigh portions are adapted to completely cover the upper thighs of the wearer to a point between about 3 to 10 inches below the wearer's crotch.
 9. The garment of claim 1, wherein the back portion of the contour layer further comprises an upper back portion, wherein the contour layer is cut high along the upper back adjacent to the neckline to reduce bulging of skin out over the edge of the garment along the upper back.
 10. The garment of claim 1, wherein the contour layer provides compression and is sized at the sleeve portions, thigh portions; armpit portions, neck portion and back portion to reduce bulging of skin over the edges of the contour layer.
 11. The garment of claim 1, wherein the contour layer provides compression at the sleeve portions, thigh portions, armpit portions, bra cup portions, waist portion, neck portion, buttocks portion and back portion to provide enhancement the figure of the wearer.
 12. The garment of claim 1, wherein the bra cup portions further include a shelf bra comprising wires, bra cup or seams to provide bust support.
 13. The garment of claim 1, wherein the contour layer is made from a uniform fabric.
 14. The garment of claim 1, wherein the contour layer eliminates the need for the wearer to wear undergarments.
 15. The garment of claim 1, wherein the contour layer further comprises at least one hip attachment, which is used to attach to a fastener of the crotch flap after detachment of the crotch flap to prevent the crotch flap from falling into a toilet. 